Little Bird

I'm not sure about this scent. I hate it for about the first hour on my skin, but the drydown is rather nice. First on, I get tons of iris and black tea. Iris is one of my most hated floral notes. It goes sharp and perfumey on me, like a bad, chemically, cheap white floral. And the bitterness of the black tea does nothing to soften it. After about an hour, though, the warm, vanilla-y benzoin and incensey champaca creep in and this starts to smell rather nice. The perfumey sharpness of the iris fades and I catch whiffs of a dry, sweet patchouli. It's nice, but it takes quite a while to make it to its sweeter, more incensey stage on my skin. I'll probably keep my decant and see how this one ages.

Rose is one of those notes that amps up and takes over on my skin, and white sandalwood tends to go creamy/powdery smelling. I get a good dose of warm, slightly fruity sweetness from the marzipan, rum, and tonka at first, though I can't really specifically pick out any of those things. The rose is there, but smothered in the sweetness. After a couple minutes, though, the sweetness dies off and I'm left with mostly rose, rosewood, and powdery white sandalwood. The rosewood gives the rose a darker, incensey sort of feel, and the sandalwood makes it more and more powdery on me as this dries down. I was hoping for more white musk and tonka, but the rose amps up as usual on me, and the sandalwood does its powdery thing. This is a pretty enough scent, but I already own so many rose blends that this is probably headed to my swap pile.

In the bottle, this smells just like dark green ivy poking up out of a bed of dry leaves. On my skin, it's much the same, but the coffee and patchouli blend together in a way that's slightly foodie-spicy-earthy. The coffee/tonka (I think, I can't really pick out coffee or tonka for sure as a note, just a vague sweetness) and patch add an exotic and sweeter feel to the dry leaf scent. I get a sweetness that sort of reminds me of hazelnut more than coffee or tonka, actually. I was a little worried about the Indonesian patchouli, but it's well-behaved here and just smells like a nice, dry, sweet patchouli (I normally love patchouli, but the Indonesian/red sometimes turns to bo and cedar shavings on my skin :/ but it's not doing that here, thankfully). As this dries down, it's mostly patchouli & dry leaves with that hazelnut-ish sweetness. It's a very dark, pleasant scent that feels like slipping into something cozy and expensive. All in all, I really like this, though I'm not sure I'll reach for it over Falling Leaf Moon, which is my perfect fall leaf scent. I do love this blend on my husband as well, so I think I'll be giving the bottle over to him.

The Phoenix in Winter smells like sweet, slushy, slightly vanilla-y snow (that pretty mix of clean and sweetness) and sweet berries in the bottle and on my skin, from start to finish. The berries smell like sweet, smooth, frozen blackberries to my nose. Bpal's actual blackberry note goes sour on me, so it's not that, but that's the impression it gives. It's reminding me a bit of blends like Glasgow and Rosalind. After about fifteen minutes, this is slightly soapy and dryer-sheet-esque on me, but still a very simple and pleasant berry scent.

Something in this scent is a bit cloying and smoky-spicy on me (maybe the saffron?). I can smell the slightly fruity red musk at first, but it's more subdued than usual and the ozone and aquatic keep it from smelling heated and warmly musky. The aquatic/ozone is chilly, clean, and sort of sharp and high pitched. All in all, the notes sort of clash on my skin in an odd and unpleasant way. I don't like the sweet spiciness mixed with the cold, clean notes.

I am so thrilled with this scent. It's a perfect spring fragrance and a floral that I can actually wear. I thought that this had lilac in it, because I really thought I could smell sweet, creamy lilac, especially in the bottle and first on. The dandelion cuts through the sweeter floral and makes it wearable. As it dries down, the breezy, clean wildflower mingles with the sweetness and it just smells so clean, cool, and gorgeous. My husband loves when I wear floral scents, so I'm happy to find one that I like as well. It's so pretty, breezy, sweet, and feminine <3.

Mother Ginger is my favorite foodie scent of this year's yules <3. It's definitely not a gingerbread scent (not like cookies, cake, or spice bread at all), but it's not quite fizzy gingerale either. It's bright, sweet ginger with a kick of unusual, pleasant spiciness. Playing With a Loaded Gun is a fizzy, slightly smoky ginger, and this is smoother and more candied smelling. I can't really smell any of the listed notes, just a candied ginger, but it's lovely.

The Spanish Dance is rather lackluster on me. The chocolate is hard to mix with the rest of the oil, and I can't really smell much chocolate even after it's blended back in. The pomegranate turns dry, bitter, and powdery, as it usually does. And the orange blossom is perfumey and oddly herbal smelling. I was worried that this scent would be too sweet, but it's not sweet enough for me :/. It's very dry and powdery and fades super-fast, only lasting about fifteen minutes on me.

I love Midwinter's Eve, vanilla, sugar, tiare, apricot, and cocoa, but I'm not really enjoying this blend. I was hoping for a creamier, chocolatey Midwinter's Eve with hints of apricot, but it's more like Midwinter's Eve with soapy floral and a dry, perfumey musk. After about fifteen minutes, it's even more dry and powdery smelling. It's practically dusty smelling on me, and I'm not geting any of the other notes or complexity I'll be sticking with Midwinter's Eve for a sugar plum scent.

Leather, coffee, hazelnut, tobacco, and Middle Eastern spices. This blend reminds me pretty strongly of Interfector, especially at first (though it has something to it that I don't enjoy, so it's like Interfector gone rotten ). It's like dark, sticky-sweet, cloying tobacco, a bit of spice, and smoky wood. It has a masculine edge that makes me think of Old Spice cologne as it dries down, and something like smoky bbq, and it's pretty weird. I bought this for the leather and coffee, and can't pick out either of those notes at all. The Arabian Dance is a huge dud on me.

In the bottle, this reminds me of Garden Path with Chickens. It's like sweet, heavy, slightly powdery floral and cool green grass with a bit of an herbal tone to it. I don't think that it really smells like lilacs, other than that the greenery has a bit of that cool, breezy sweetness to it that's reminiscent of lilac. The floral part doesn't smell like lilac to me, if that makes sense. The Lilac Wood doesn't really shift on my skin at all. It's strong and stays the same from start to finish (lasting about 8 hours pretty strongly on me) - heavy, powdery, sweet floral tone with hints of green grass and herbs. It's actually a bit cloying on me, and I'm sad that it doesn't really smell of lilacs. Sort of a cool toned version of Garden Path with Chickens...

I just now noticed this post, but bpal's Sin is very similar to LUSH's Glogg, in my opinion. And I didn't think that the Grass gel smelled like Jungle the last time I was in store. I love Jungle, and haven't found a bpal that I think really smells similar... I don't get the vetiver from Jungle either.

I'm not getting much of a cookie or cakey smell from Kourabiedes, sadly . I get a whiff of something clove-like every once in a while, but this is mostly sweet, sugared cinnamon on me. Spices amp up like crazy on my skin, and that's all I'm getting here...

Fudgey chocolate with a dry spiciness from the gingerbread. This oil makes me think of brownies with a dusting of spices on the top. The drydown has a bit of bitterness to it that I'm guessing is the coffee part, but it doesn't really smell much like coffee on me, and it's no unpleasant at all. This is a nice spiced chocolate blend on me, that lasts about 2 hours on my skin. It's my favorite of the Bag of Coal set.

I get a buttery, slightly plastic-y cookie scent here that reminds me of Sugar Cookie. It dries down to a very light, sweet peppermint and then fades away after only about ten minutes on my skin.

I wish that Princess smelled like The Girl on me, but I get mostly a sharp, perfumey, musky smell from it with a dash of nondescript sweetness. But I have been around other people wearing the scent, and it smells awesome on them . I can see how its dry, sweet qualities could be similar to The Girl on a person with the right skin chemistry.

I already have my bottle of Black Lace out and ready for New Year's parties. Something about it just screams late night adults only parties to me, lol.

I've worn this blend a lot over the past couple days, trying to decide if it's a keeper or not. I'm still not sure. I get the similarities to Sloth at first (which is a blend that I enjoy), but I think that this is more vetiver-heavy on me where Sloth's sweet myrrh note takes over more fully on my skin. The Last of the Spirits is sort of like dying grass, dark earth, and a hint of smoke, sweetened up with the myrrh. I can't pick out any fruity tones in the vial or on my skin. As it dries down, there's something almost green and herbal lingering underneath the sweet resins and smoky earthiness. It's a very heavy scent, with a good dose of sweetness on me. I think that I have vetiver and myrrh blends that I like a bit more than this one, though.

On me, this is like dry wood, a bright, sweet, slightly masculine sort of metallic-aquatic smell, and a drydown that's more and more like a whiff of woodsmoke in the distance. It's sort of like a pale version of Port Royal that has been set on fire (but not all that intense, because that wood smokiness isn't super-strong on me either, and sort of fades in and out, and PR has more depth). Mostly this is light, dry wood and a hint of masculine clean smell on my skin. My husband likes this and will probably get my decant, but we both prefer Port Royal on him for a 'woods & clean' blend...

Incessant Torture of Remorse smells a lot like Misericordia on me (opoponax, lavender, and black currant) and a bit similar to the yule blend On Darkness, but not as good. I mostly get the dark, cloying, sticky-sweet incense feel of the opoponax (which is like some sort of heavy incense syrup on my skin), and a cool, sweet lavender. The blend gets a little black peppery in the drydown, which opoponax usually does on me. I was intrigued by all of the other notes, but I can't pick them out here. This is all dark, heavy lavender and opoponax on my skin, and has a deep, cloying sweetness to it.

Woods in Winter is very blah me, with nothing really sticking out as good or interesting about the scent once it touches my skin. It's a bit of sharp evergreen, a bit of medicinal menthol (the icicles?), and a slushy, slightly soapy snow scent. It dries down to cool, clean, and slightly soapy... I still much prefer Dirty when I want a soapy-clean scent.

Use this oil in dark love spellwork to gain the affections of someone that is already spoken for. I don't really want to air all of my dirty laundry... so to make a long story short, there is this girl that keeps popping up and causing issues between myself and my boy. Sort of an ex-girlfriend that will not ex herself out of our lives, and she keeps finding subtle ways to majorly hurt my feelings. I wanted Siren to use along with some other steps that I'm taking to hopefully cut ties with her, get her claws out of my boyfriend, and encourage my boy to quit feeling sorry for her and tell her to get lost once and for all. The smell of Siren isn't great to me. My first thought was that it reminded me of The Imp of the Perverse... nice, rancid rose. After a while, it smells like perfumey rose and the way that hay smells in a used barn, sort of dusty, sweet, and herbal. It's not great or a good perfume to me, but hopefully it will work along with my intention. I don't plan on really wearing this as a perfume for any of my rituals anyhow. Whether or not this helps or works for me remains to be seen, but I am hopeful. ETA. Since I've been using this in a ritual, it is as though the ex-girlfriend has disappeared from mine and my boy's life. He doesn't even get the random phone calls from her anymore... and, in her blissful absence, we're getting even closer with each other. NOTE: This review thread is for the Twilight Alchemy Lab blend. Reviews for the BPAL Love Potion of the same name can be found here. --Shollin

I wish that my skin didn't amp up spice notes, because I love the sounds of other people's reviews for this one, but all I get is spice. I don't get any sensual smokiness, wood, or fruity wine from this. Bob's Hearth is all cinnamon all the time on me. It's like sharp cider spices with emphasis on the cinnamon and not much in the way of actual fruitiness. My husband said I smell like potpourri when I wore this :/

Which one embodies Christmas/Yule the most? The Second of the Three Spirits is the one I've been using as a room scent lately, and it feels like a perfect yule scent to me. It's like a fresh Christmas tree, sugary treats baking away in the oven, and hints of spice and fruit. Very cozy and Christmassy. Best foody scent from this year's Yules? A lot of the foodies haven't worked on me and went more to cinnamon potpourri or candle smell on my skin, but I haven't tried The Kingdom of Sweets, Sugar Plum Fairy, or Mother Ginger yet, so I'm still hopeful for those. Best snowy/wintery scent? The Waltz of the Snowflakes <3 which is all vanilla, snow, and a hint of pine on me. Super pretty. Best scent that you'll enjoy wearing in warmer weather? Probably The Waltz of the Snowflakes, Midwinter's Eve, and The Clock Strikes Midnight. What's this year's sleeper scent? I think that Klara will be popular, though it doesn't work on me personally, and Waltz of the Snowflakes for those who like Snow White and Snowblind. And do you have an overall favorite yet? Ebenezer Scrooge, Shadows of What May Be, The Clock Strikes Midnight, The Waltz of the Snowflakes, and The School are the blends that I'm most enamored with at the moment.

I don't smell anything fruity or currant-like here; it's more ozone and smoky, murky, dry leaf smell on my skin. Ozone tends to go intensely soapy on me, and I'm definitely getting that here, mixed with what smells like damp, molding leaves and a whiff of smoky, burning leaves. It's an odd mix of soapy and dirty/smoky notes on my skin, and has a sharp, harsh feel that I find really off-putting. I like the smell of fall leaves and loved Falling Leaf Moon, but this blend is going all wrong on me. I wound up scrubbing this one off after a half hour, as it was intensely strong and soapy.